(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-piercing rivet. More particularly, the present invention relates to a self-piercing rivet that can join two or more objects together.
(b) Description of the Related Art
The automotive industry pays attention to environmental problems, and applying aluminum alloys and plastic materials to a vehicle body so as to reduce weight of the vehicle body and to improve fuel consumption is one of solutions for solving the environmental problems.
For these purposes, joining methods for assembling a vehicle body instead of using conventional spot welding have been researched and developed.
Recently, a self-piercing rivet using a self-piercing rivet system has been increasingly used.
According to a conventional riveting technique, objects such as steel sheets to be joined together are joined by forming a head portion after a riveting hole is bored and a rivet is inserted into the riveting hole. However, the rivet is press-fitted into the joining objects by hydraulic pressure or pneumatic pressure without forming the riveting hole according to the self-piercing rivet technique. At this time, the rivet is plastically deformed and joins the joining objects together.
A self-piercing rivet is used for joining metal sheets according to the self-piercing rivet technique, and the self-piercing rivet includes a head and a partially hollow cylindrical shank.
For example, the shank of the self-piercing rivet penetrates an upper sheet by a punch of a setting tool. At this time, the shank is supported by a die and is deformed outwardly. In addition, since the shank is press-fitted to a lower sheet in a state that the head portion is supported by the upper sheet, the upper sheet and the lower sheet are joined.
Conventionally, the punch is provided to an upper portion of a C-type frame and an anvil is provided to a lower portion thereof.
In a conventional art, two joining objects are disposed between the punch and the anvil and then the rivet is press-fitted by the punch, pierces the upper joining object, is encapsulated at the lower joining object, and is deformed outwardly by a forming cavity of the anvil, and thus the joining objects are integrally connected.
The joining technique using the self-piercing rivet may be applied for assembling aluminum panels of a vehicle body which is not easily performed by spot welding.
Also, the self-piercing rivet system may provide excellent rigidity and resistance characteristics against fatigue, and may not form distortion on a sheet near the rivet so that the self-piercing rivet system may be acceptable from an aesthetic point of view.
However, in a conventional art, a shank of the self-piercing rivet (hereinafter called a “rivet”) pierces the upper joining object, is encapsulated at the lower joining object, and is deformed outwardly by the anvil, and thus the rivet may not be easily separated from the joining objects.
That is, in the conventional art, if it is required to separate the joining objects from each other, the rivet needs to be dismantled or the riveting portion needs to be torn, and thus the joining objects are damaged and deformed. Therefore, the joining objects must be replaced without recycling.
Also, in the conventional art, since the punch and the anvil are used for press-fitting the rivet to join the joining objects, an applicable degree of freedom of riveting may be reduced due to interference with other equipment.
Since the shank of the conventional self-piercing rivet is formed as an annular piercing edge, a penetrated portion of the upper sheet is completely cut off by the annular edge when the shank penetrates the upper sheet and is press-fitted to the lower sheet.
Since the penetrated portion of the upper sheet cut off by the shank cannot form a mechanical interlock of the upper and lower sheets and remains as dead metal, joining strength of the upper and lower sheets may be deteriorated.
In addition, since the dead metal cannot join the upper and lower sheets with sufficient strength, the upper sheet relatively rotates with respect to the lower sheet.
Accordingly, various techniques for preventing rotation of the upper sheet are applied according to conventional arts. For example, a plurality of rivets are used for preventing the rotation of the upper sheet.
If the plurality of rivets is used, processes may be complicated, productivity may be deteriorated, and product cost may be increased due to an increase of processes and components.
Since the shank of the rivet is formed as the annular piercing edge, the shank penetrates the upper sheet with an annular shape, and thereby increases a joining load according to conventional arts.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.